Minister for Indigenous Australians
Subjects: Closing the Gap, NT Child Protection Laws
EMMA REBELLATO, HOST:New data shows Australia is far from Closing the Gap, just five years out from the deadline. In its annual report, the Productivity Commission has found one of the 19 targets has been met. For more, Minister for Indigenous Australians Malarndirri McCarthy joins us now. Minister, thanks for your time this morning.
MALARNDIRRI MCCARTHY, MINISTER FOR INDIGENOUS AUSTRALIANS: Good morning.
HOST: When you read this report, after years of trying to close the gap, what was your initial reaction? Just one of those targets met.
MINISTER MCCARTHY: Well, I’m very pleased that we have met the target for preschool enrolments, Emma, but clearly a lot more work needs to happen in terms of the other targets, in particular around justice and out of home care. I’m absolutely determined. The Prime Minister is determined. As he said in February, failure is not an option.
HOST: What changes will you make if you’re so determined? Clearly more needs to be done or changes need to be made. What will the government do?
MINISTER MCCARTHY: Well, we have to go harder, really. I think that my meetings, which I’ll have with Indigenous Affairs Ministers next week, this will be certainly high on the agenda. We have our Joint Council meeting at the end of the year with the Coalition of Peaks. We must ensure across the country that Aboriginal Community Controlled Organisations are very much in control and supported. When we see these results in terms of preschool enrolment, it’s because of the Aboriginal Community Controlled sector being very much at the table and very much a part of the solution. And that in itself shows that at the true heart of the agreement, when there is shared power with First Nations organisations, you do see results.
HOST: We spoke to the National Commissioner for Children, Sue-Anne Hunter, earlier. She talked about that if things keep going the way they are, it’s going to get more dire. She said if this was any other national agreement or national deal that had these results, that someone would have been sacked by now. How do you respond to that?
MINISTER MCCARTHY: Well, this agreement doesn’t have outcomes where you are measured on it in terms of penalties, Emma, that is a real concern with the agreement. It’s an area that I’m certainly pursuing in terms of our federal funding agreements. I’ve been able to see it implemented in recent months here in the Northern Territory, with the Northern Territory Remote Aboriginal Investment Agreement, ensuring that the Aboriginal organisations are at the table, not just the Commonwealth and the Northern Territory Government. And time will tell to see how that agreement goes.
HOST: We’ve talked a bit about youth detention rates. They’ve not changed since the baseline year, while targets around children in out of home care and child development are worsening. That’s pretty difficult reading for a lot of people. What tangible changes are going to be made to turn that around?
MINISTER MCCARTHY: Well, it’s not just hard reading, Emma, it’s also difficult lives who are having to live through this, families who are being torn apart because their children are either being jailed or being removed. So, what we’re doing at the federal level, in particular with my colleague Tanya Plibersek, is trying to work with families through a new peak body that is working on family and domestic violence. But we can only do that at the federal level. We do need our state and territory counterparts to be doing their fair share and to be working really with the First Nations organisations in their jurisdictions. And this is why the agreement really matters. When there is thorough and sincere work being done with First Nations Community Controlled sectors, you will see much better results. When there is a clash, which we’ve seen recently here in the Northern Territory, over legislation and not just one piece of legislation, you will see the disempowering of First Nations people. The Closing the Gap agreement is about empowering First Nations people and I will keep pushing state and territory ministers at every Cabinet table to be doing that.
HOST: Well, just on that, given those laws in the Northern Territory, the legislation which has been quite controversial, have you spoken to the NT, have you spoken to your Cabinet colleagues in Canberra to look at possible intervention here for the federal government to get more involved?
MINISTER MCCARTHY: We are constantly asked in different times with different reasons about intervening, in particular in places like the Northern Territory. We are also mindful though as the Commonwealth that we have to be very careful, the power that we do have and to use it appropriately. But there is no doubt that my colleagues will work with me in terms of wanting to see the Northern Territory, in particular, deal with those issues. But it isn’t just the Northern Territory alone in terms of justice. We’ve seen the same issue in Queensland, in terms of the high incarceration rates. We also see it in Victoria as well, in terms of justice there. So, we have to look at other measures. Federal funding agreements, in my view, are important levers for us to be able to use. Those federal funding agreements, Emma, are three years, so those FFAs are already in the middle of their current contractual arrangements. I want to look at what happens with the next FFA, in terms of three-year agreements.
HOST: Would you like federal funding to be tied to Closing the Gap outcomes? Because there are some advocates in the NT in particular who want that.
MINISTER MCCARTHY: Well, in the Northern Territory, we have the Northern Territory Remote Aboriginal Investment, the NTRAI, which is over $800 million. That is the first time we’ve seen in the Northern Territory where we’ve been able to have the Aboriginal organisations at the table and I’ve ensured that in the next agreement here, in terms of the NTRAI going forward. So, hopefully we’re going to start seeing some real results come, as a result of having First Nations people at the table with the Territory and the Commonwealth. In terms of the states, I’d like to see the same thing happen and I will work with my colleagues on that. It’s my vision, if you like, Emma. I do need to get buy in from not only the states and territories, but also my colleagues.
HOST: OK. Minister Malarndirri McCarthy, thanks for your time this morning.
